Yes, folks, the Gray Lady is getting into meal delivery, or, to be more accurate, meal-kit delivery, making it easier than ever to get your hands on the ingredients behind those tasty-looking recipes on its NYT Cooking site.
Looking for ways to boost revenue in the face of increasing pressure on its traditional business, the Times has partnered with California startup Chef’d to offer the service.
From this summer, when you stumble upon a tempting recipe on the Times’ Cooking site, you’ll be able to quickly order the complete set of ingredients and have them delivered to your door within 48 hours. Prices haven’t yet been announced, though most of the meal kits showing on the Chef’d site today cost between $12 and $50.
Hungry users of the Cooking app, as well as visitors to the website, will have two options when it comes to ordering. The first lets you order single meal kits from a wide selection of NYT Cooking recipes, while the second involves a subscription that lets you order multiple meals each week.
The service will also offer meal suggestions based on customer preferences, with new recipes added regularly, including ones linked to trends, seasons, and holidays.
Kyle Ransford, founder and CEO of Chef’d, said in a release his company was “thrilled” with the collaboration, adding, “Through our meal delivery capabilities we can provide the Times’ rapidly growing digital community the ease of cooking delicious meals the Times has always featured with a simple touch of a button.”
Chef’d, which launched last year, is one of a growing number of startups offering meal-kit delivery. Others include Plated, Blue Apron, HelloFresh, and PeachDish.
So, if you start salivating at the sight of the Times’ Swiss chard rice bowl with chorizo, or perhaps its wild king salmon with savory whipped cream, meal kits for these and tons of other dishes will soon be just a few clicks away – though of course the big question is, are your cooking skills up to the job?
